Temple of the Cosmic Spheres

April 16.2015

Pluto Retrograde
11:51 p.m. (EDT)

Under the cover of a night sky and just prior to crossing the threshhold into a new day, Pluto will station retrograde this evening. It remains retrograde through the waxing of solar light and heat and begins its path forward once again in late September, just as the First Harvest begins.

Pluto’s planetary energy holds the potency of reaching deep into past experience, just beyond what is the normal level of introspection and rooted in what has first hand knowledge of death. Mythologically, Pluto is Lord of the Underworld and allows nothing to escape his intense scrutiny. Pluto was known more commonly as Hades and, as the son of Saturn, God of time and structure, learned the measure of time and order as the ultimate place of judgement at the end of life. Pluto stood in good company, his brothers being Jupiter and Neptune; one of expansive force and the other having control over the seas. Pluto took his place as final judge of the dead when the ebb and flow of breath and the waters of life were no longer part of a living being. In much the same way, Pluto stands as the final determiner as we evolve from what we believe of this world and pass into those territories lesser known.

Pluto begins its Retrograde at the mid-point degree (15’33) of the astrological sign of Capricorn. Capricorn is an Earth sign of the Cardinal (first stirrings) modality and as irony would have it, Capricorn’s ruling planet is Saturn. Here we have Pluto wearing the garb of his Father, Saturn, so that structure and order that is typical of Capricorn will be the underpinnings of Pluto’s energy. That statement has even greater depth of meaning given that Saturn is currently Retrograde (March 15th) and in its earliest degrees of astrological Sagittarius. Here we have Saturnian energy fired up and ready to send out its streams of light, always with goal of forging connections. Retrograde Saturn as the dutiful parent is adding his catalytic energies to that of Pluto’s making ready those who will pass through his Gates.

The retrograde stationing of a planet allows for that planet’s energy to be focused fully and directed in such a way that is similar to be under the spotlight of that energy for the duration of the retrograde. The work begins as an in-drawing of breath and energy, distributes itself wherever provocation will provide reaction and then allows the final products to be exhaled forward and out to what becomes the outward expression of what has been changed. Change will always occur, and as they say, you can go kicking and screaming in resistance or surrender to the process and learn from the ride, no matter how bumpy in spots.

Pluto is calling forth the darkness of our underworld and what we thought we had escaped laying them to rest as old and dead issues. Reaching int the darkness of Pluto’s energy also means we are moving into the coldest and furtherest reach we can, with very little concrete information to go on; it largely being an excursion into those “forgotten” realms. I say “forgotten” because we have access to the full breadth of our timeline and its experiences, but have forgotten how to extricate ourselves from the concept of linear time.

Pluto is the ruling planet of Scorpio, and although it is not in the sign of Scorpio the afterglow of its companionship still remains. These are the subtleties of expression, much like those that we acquire the more time we spend with friends and loved ones. Mannerisms, traits and at times more, shimmer through our own individual nature. Scorpio is intense and prone to addictive behavior if not balanced and stabilized. It is also the penultimate sign of change and literal transmutation when accessed in its higher expression. Much like the experience of Death itself that is only the leaving behind of what is known and the passing into a new transmuted form of expression. Sounds like Pluto, huh! This Plutonian gift can be either an echo or a guiding force that navigates the Retrograde from depths (Capricorn’s Sea Goat again) unfathomable to heights unimaginable.

You’ve Been Served!

This Pluto Retrograde is a space where all the joys and garbage of our lifetimes is going to come back full cycle for re-addressing and the calling of ourselves to stand in the place of judge and jury as to what may finally find peace and gain admittance into our own underworld. These will come suddenly and seemingly out of the blue and knowing precisely where you have left yourself most vulnerable.

When you begin opening to these planetary energies, it’s really interesting to note how you can sense the changes coming on a few days (or at times weeks) prior. The air has been thicker as of late and several people I have interacted with have been increasingly dredging up old issues spanning the gamut of emotions and thoughts. This is one of the Capricornian effects. The Sea Goat who is equally at home in the waters (emotions) and the heights of the this air of the mountain tops(mind).

This retrograde will be one of earth experience and hit home at the level of the physical and all that is part of your own secure little world. Issues of health with the recurrence or flair up of what has lain quiet are potentially things that will need to be dealt with and the replacing of old habits that are not in support of longevity and health could use the analysis and rigors of Pluto’s intense focus. Do not be surprised if you feel more weary than usual. It’s a long way out to reaching Pluto and what is occurring at the subtle levels of your being is that long stretching of everything you have as the foundations and reserve of your lifetime (s) not ricocheting back at you. This takes great effort and fortitude with much of this exertion transparent in the space of your conscious awareness.

Pluto’s first stirrings are at the unconscious level and with enough prodding they are brought into the subconscious, often as dreams. Be aware of your dreams during this period. These will give glue to what is being jostled free from those furtherest recesses. The choice then lay within you as to how much further into your waking self you allow them to rise.

There is much to be learned in the dark and the opportunity to cultivate new ways of seeing and navigating. Take this experience of Pluto’s “unknown factor” and use it as an opportunity to reinvent ourself. Use the Capricornian energy to manifest in your present life a resiliency and sure-footedness that keeps you strong and stable on the path of your life’s choosing. Nurture yourself as the son/daughter of a demanding Father (Saturn as the Lord of Time) and call forth the experience of the Primordial Mother that births the universe (Saturn and its Qabalistic relationship to the sphere of Binah, the Great Mother). As Pluto is king of the land of Death, he is also the psychopomp and mid-wife to the new life that will lay in wait to be eventually birthed from that Death in the never ending cycle of time.

Read more about Capricorn here: The Temple of the Sun-Capricorn
Read more about Scorpio here: The Temple of the Sun-Scorpio
Read more about Saturn Retrograde here: Time to Clean House-Saturn Retrograde